[Mesenchymal stem cells. Differentiation and alternative source of neural tissue]

Embryonic stem cells are a population of cells located in the blastocyst, committed to specific differentiation according to spatial and temporal factors such as age and place of final location. Despite the final fate of hematic cells, hemopoietic cells retain a relative degree of plasticity dependent on environmental factors. Mesenchymal cells are a well differentiated population of bone marrow derived non hemopoietic cells with totipotential properties. The medical interest of such totipotentiality rests in the potential of such cells to repair damaged tissues. Particularly neuronal differentiation from progenitors obtained from mesenchymae non hemopoietic cells offers a new possibility in the field of neural transplantation and tissue engineering to repair functional entities in the nervous system.